Forum posts

Posted 16 years ago2007-10-24 19:16:23 UTC
in The orange box again. Post #236954
The G-Man was presented in Episode Two far better than in Half-Life 2, in my opinion. He felt much more sinister in the episode, and I think his cut-scene after you save Alyx was far better choreographed. When he appeared on the screen at White Forest after the transmission, I nearly crapped my pants. :D

/me wants moar
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-20 19:56:49 UTC
in The orange box again. Post #236752
Isn't there supposed to be an SDK update with the Orange Box that allows for lighting preview in Hammer, or is that just a rumor?

Also, does anyone have an idea of when the SDK stuff for this generation of games is released?
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-17 21:50:13 UTC
in HL2 Performance sucks Post #236551
I don't mean to derail the thread, but while we're on the subject of startup commands, how would I force EP2 to load with the Texture Quality setting at "Very High"? Every time I load the game, it reverts to the default settings and I have to go in and change it, even if I apply them and exit the game with no crash.

Back to the problem at hand: Have you done the Steam fix-all thing with the .BLOB files and what not, and have you tried running the game in different DX levels when making that level transition?
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-14 22:06:19 UTC
in The orange box again. Post #236379
Funny, I didn't actually mind the coast, but everyone else seems to think they were shit. Sure they were mostly empty, but it was realistic.
Well I didn't think they were shit, but they definitely were sparse. And that make sense, considering the limited power the Source Engine had to render large areas back then. Point is: It was a refreshing change for me to see Valve make maps with such vast and open layouts, and it'll make designing outside maps much easier for us down the road, too.

So yeah, the Orange Box rox my sox.
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-14 20:56:33 UTC
in The orange box again. Post #236370
You'll notice throughout that they've used some rather cheap outdoor mapping techniques that are reminiscent of GoldSrc maps, including those damned 2D transparent trees, and some pretty obvious skybox blending
Perhaps, but if you don't focus on a single tree, the entire outdoor areas look stunning. I never thought Source could look so good. Besides, compare one of the open areas of Episode Two to one of the coast maps of Half-Life 2. Equal performance, 1000x improved environments. The benefits definitely out-weigh the costs. :heart: :heart:
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-09 23:29:21 UTC
in WARNING: node with unbounded volume Post #236076
Aww shucks, I though I had this one covered. :nuke: :heart:
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-09 23:08:31 UTC
in WEIRD Artifacting In Full-Screen Mode Post #236074
Weird.. the artifacting is only present when I compile a map and have Hammer auto-run the game, THEN make it full-screen. Everything's just dandy when I load the game manually and set it to full-screen. What's odd is that the game seems to use different display options when I go from Hammer-auto-load to manually loading the game. When I ran the game manually, it was already in full-screen mode, so I went from that to windowed mode and back to full-screen. Even when the options are applied and I quit out of the game and load it the other way, they stay different from eachother.

Oh well, the problem isn't really a problem now.

Oh, and yeah, this is a Source-only problem.
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-08 21:31:12 UTC
in WEIRD Artifacting In Full-Screen Mode Post #236010
I just recently updated my graphics card drivers (in hopes of maybe fixing my constant freezing problems), and all appeared to be okay because I run all my Source games in windows. Today, I set the game to full-screen and got horrible artifacting everywhere (models, world geometry, etc.), which became more apparent on dark surfaces. It shows not only everywhere in-game, but also on the menu main menu, too, including the Steam Community menu. The brightness level became permenantly changed (swapping over to windowed mode didn't change it back), and in hopes of finding the cause, I messed with the Advanced graphics settings, which didn't work.

I'm sure the computer isn't over-heating because it wasn't rendering anything strenuous, nor is it in any space that would restrict airflow. Has anyone else experienced this issue with nVidia's latest drivers, and if so, how can I fix the problem!?

Thanks
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-06 12:52:04 UTC
in WARNING: node with unbounded volume Post #235833
Well I've never experienced this problem before, but what I suggest you do is look for a brush entirely contained within an other brush, or a brush that has a face with no width (IE, VM'ing the verts together but not actually merging them).
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-04 22:23:56 UTC
in Your Gaming History? (Long Post) Post #235691
I began gaming with text-based adventures like Zork, and later moved on to the Star Wars Tie-Fighter and X-Wing flight simulators (I would often get "StackOverflow!" errors from trying to run the Tie-Fighter game on my space-age Windows 95 PC with a 150 MHz processor). I sort of took a break from gaming for a few years, after which point I was hopelessly addicted to Diablo II and its expansion. My game interests started to widen from that point, and I began to play games like Civilization, Need for Speed, Red Alert, and Tribes. In '05, I heard of a neat little game called "Half-Life 2," and was immediately interested. After beating Half-Life 2 several times, I noticed the various custom maps I would download from servers when playing Deathmatch, and decided to Google around to see what I could dig up. I found this dandy little place, and became what I am now. :)
Posted 16 years ago2007-10-04 18:11:09 UTC
in Quiet down and listen to the Aussie Post #235677
Has this guy made any for Half-Life 2? I searched and didn't find anything :combine:
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-21 20:02:35 UTC
in Windows Post #234704
Oh.. I'm sorry :)

You can try just placing an info_player_start next to the wall you want the window to be in as a guide. He's to scale with the world, so he should make it fairly easy to judge the size of the window. :)
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-20 21:33:14 UTC
in Windows Post #234673
If I recall (I'm not certain), there's a template dev texture Valve included with the SDK that you can use to measure that sort of thing. Try punching in "dev window" into the texture filter and see what you come up with.

You can apply that to the wall, align it to your liking, then cut out the window! :)
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-13 23:05:25 UTC
in Colored Objects Post #234069
So all you want is little modeled objects (like blocks or something) colored pink or some other color?

You'd have to learn how to model and texture them. BJ wrote some good tutorials on how to model and skin, so here and here you go. :)
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-12 23:22:17 UTC
in Leave britney alone! Post #233992
he/she's SO BUTCH
His voice sends a tingle down my spine :nervous:
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-09 19:19:22 UTC
in Post Your Desk Post #233784
This is college. :D
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-05 16:24:32 UTC
in Caption the Avatar! Post #233551
"Only two more times and I get my World of Warcraft action figure."
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-04 19:36:04 UTC
in hl2 modeling error (pink and black) Post #233495
Your code looks okay to me. Make sure you have both the .VMT and .VTF in the materials/models/work folder, and be sure that they're in both the source_SDKContent and Half-Life 2 (or whatever mod) folders. The texture can't be just in the SDK folders for it to appear in-game. Other than that.. I don't see a problem. If it turns out that that isn't the case, then you can send me the files and I'll see if I can't get them to work. :)

And just to let you know; because the .QC uses the $staticprop line, you don't need to specify a weight in the $collisionmodel line. :)
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-04 00:06:45 UTC
in Caption the Avatar! Post #233449
"I've got more Lambda temporary tattoos if anyone else wants some."
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-03 16:51:25 UTC
in Caption the Avatar! Post #233427
"'Dr. Kleiner, there's been another terrible accident at Black Mesa!'
'What is it?'
'Rimrook's avatar!'"
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-03 15:00:30 UTC
in Caption the Avatar! Post #233423
Oh come on, you've gotta do better than that. :D
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-03 14:48:42 UTC
in Caption the Avatar! Post #233421
"Among our best-trained soldiers are the ones above. They're trained to use their ears in combat, lest they're issued a helmet that's too big."
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-03 13:59:38 UTC
in Scientology: Exposed! Post #233414
People may follow science like lost puppies, but that's because it can be tested and proven or have theories formed upon it. Religion can't be 'tested' (like ascending into Heaven n stuff), and so while I'm primarily a 'science-follower,' I'm still open to the possibility of some supreme creator.

I can't understand why people form such extreme views on these matters. :
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-02 23:53:54 UTC
in Frosted Textures Post #233379
Hmm.. does it blur the refracting surface or what's being refracted, so it DOES look like this?:

http://www.eshowerdoor.com/images/glass/Frosted%20Clear.gif

because if so, then that's awesome :D . I CBA to check it myself, though. :D
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-01 23:04:04 UTC
in Scientology: Exposed! Post #233316
I think it's more a matter of what you do with religion than the religion itself. My mom goes to church because she likes the people there, not because she think's she'll get saved from her sins or otherwise go to hell. If it's used to bring people together instead of wage wars n shit, then it can be a beneficial institution.
Posted 16 years ago2007-09-01 00:12:18 UTC
in Why is hammer so laggy? Post #233269
Try defragging the local game files and verifying their integrety, then closing Steam and deleting ClientRegistry.BLOB. If that doesn't solve it, try reinstalling the SDK, and make sure that your graphics drivers aren't outdated.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-31 18:21:51 UTC
in Scientology: Exposed! Post #233245
Ok, back to it
Hah, that was good, but it's also fake :D . I don't remember the name of it now, but a while ago, I found this site that had audio clips of various celebrities/well-know people (like Tom Cruise, if I recall (lol)) that play when you click the link. My brother and I did the same thing to my mom a few years ago.

I was fooled at first, though.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-29 22:32:22 UTC
in Adding and customizing textures? Post #233113
Are we talking Source or GoldSource?
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-29 22:28:34 UTC
in Scientology: Exposed! Post #233112
Well by "increasing numbers," I meant that they're bigger than they were in, say, the 1920's. It isn't to say that they're the majority (but I can and probably will find out now :D )
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-29 21:44:19 UTC
in Scientology: Exposed! Post #233109
Hey man, believe what you will and let others do the same. Its a philosophy to live by. You can't know, you can only believe, and to truly believe is to be open to the idea that you can be wrong
Amen to that :D .

As the 20th and 21st centuries have progressed, increasing numbers of people have resorted to mystical and magical thinking, like the Medeval Age, instead of scientific and logical. Like Rimrook was saying, people will believe what they have to get the aforementioned 'results' quickly. I must say, though that it's interesting how you rarely see scientific 'evangelists' on TV, but there are easily 3 or 4 channels on my cable service completely devoted to religious evangelism. :nuke:
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-28 20:57:36 UTC
in Frosted Textures Post #233064
Or you could make a 4194304 by 4194304 image, go crazy with Add Noise, and turn it into a Du/Dv map :P . But seriously, like Rabid said, you'd have to design your own shader to support it.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-28 01:55:29 UTC
in How do i start Post #233038
I think I know what you're asking, but correct me if I'm wrong: Are you asking if you need to seal the map before it's complete? If so, then no, you don't HAVE to seal the map, but it's good practice to. When the map is open to the void, you get what's called a 'leak' (pretty apt name, eh? :D ). The void itself doesn't get refreshed, so you get that ugly HOM effect. Not only that, but VIS, the program that splits the map into pieces so it doesn't render the whole mess at the same time (which save CPU resources), doesn't run, which is bad. Leaks can be hard to find, so it's a good idea to hunt them down when you see them, so they don't create problems later.

If it helps you design the map's geometry, you can leave the top off in Hammer to get a nice sky view, then quickly cap the 'cup' and compile, so you don't get the leak. Just always always always make sure that the final version is leak-free so that peoples' PCs don't melt when they try to run your map :D
This post was made on a thread that has been deleted.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-23 20:50:12 UTC
in Opinions on BioShock Post #232723
When I said that, I meant that the Bioshock engine looks like Doom3's engine.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-23 20:38:45 UTC
in Opinions on BioShock Post #232719
Actually, I was thinking the same thing. The textures look low-res and over-normal mapped, just like Doom 3. The visuals may be original, but they look like plastic more than anything else, and I think the water's too reflective. I can't understand why my computer would average 40 FPS for visuals that really aren't that astounding or high-quality. The plot interests me, but since I'm in Luke's postion, I can't make any comment on gameplay.

I wasn't too excited about it when I heard of it, and I'm not too excited now. :
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-22 01:07:34 UTC
in Realtime radiocity in games Post #232578
If they wanted to make brushes concave, they'd have a helluva lot of coding work to do because of the way BSPs work. But hell, a completely dynamic-lit game engine shouldn't be too hard. Maybe they'll make it after Episode Three. Who knows? :nuts:
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-21 23:51:29 UTC
in Realtime radiocity in games Post #232574
It seems odd to me that Valve decided to stick with Source for so long by creating so many games based on it. It's like they're digging their own graves in regard to technology. Unless they're secretly developing a new engine right now, they're going to be in a pretty tight situation when Episode Three is released and they have nowhere else to go.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-21 16:24:12 UTC
in Realtime radiocity in games Post #232543
It would be neat if Valve designed it so that RAD was compiled with the map, but the game can run completely real-time lighting too, so people with fast computers get real-time light, and people with old computers could get the performance of pre-compiled RAD.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-20 23:44:29 UTC
in Performance issues in Hammer Post #232519
When you say the texture "disappears," do you mean it goes black and flashes around when you move the 3D view around? That probably means you have a model texture applied to the displacement, which doesn't render correctly, both in hammer and in-game (The same is true if it's applied to ANY world geometry). Check the name of the texture, and if you see "model" or "prop" somewhere (including the folder it's stored in), then you can bet your bottom dollar that it's a model texture. Change it with something that's not meant to go on a model, and the problem should take care of itself...

As for the window repeating itself, if I remember correctly, Hammer's windows won't refresh themselves if the cursor isn't in them (I may be wrong). After the window is moved, try moving the mouse into the view, or moving that particular view around, so it refreshes itself. The repeated window ought to go away. If not, then you should check to see that your graphics drivers are up-to-date.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-15 15:23:06 UTC
in Help with spiral staircase Post #232150
Darn, I lost all mah money :<

Host the map so we can take a look at it.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-15 13:33:31 UTC
in China's Tallest Building Catches Fir Post #232145
...pretty damn scientific there, Dave
Seems like a pretty sound statement to me. :nuke:
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-15 03:55:00 UTC
in Help with spiral staircase Post #232116
I'm betting all my money that it's a model texture. Select a face of the problematic stair brushes and look at the texture's full name. If the word "model" or "prop" is anywhere in there, it's a model texture. Models use texutres that are lit differently from world geometry because their lighting conditions can change if they're moved around. Pick a texture that doesn't have the word "model" or "prop" anywhere in the name and you should be good.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-12 20:00:24 UTC
in Help with spiral staircase Post #231954
Oh.. didn't know about the Shift key trick. :D
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-12 17:22:24 UTC
in Help with spiral staircase Post #231949
Select all the stair brushes, then press CTRL + M. The menu that appears will let you scale, move, and rotate objects without having to use the selection tool in a 2D view (which is better because rotating in the 2D view doesn't snap). To spin the stair case, you'll want to use the Z axis. Changes are calculated in degrees, counter-clockwise.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-06 12:05:24 UTC
in Research: Surveillance-based map(s)? Post #231393
Maybe, have one control room that the players have to fight to get? Then the door locks so the other team can't get in? Might be a little hard to get to work, though, considering that CS rounds are so short.

By the way; awesome idea!
This post was made on a thread that has been deleted.
Posted 16 years ago2007-08-01 23:37:17 UTC
in Animations for TS(lawl) Post #231036
I think the only thing I'd change about the swing animation is to have the knife bumped slightly when his hand comes back to grab it. His movement back to idle just looks too perfect as it is right now. A little shake or jerk when his left hand touches the blade again would make it much more believable.

Although I must agree with Madcow; I think the idle animation should be different :)
Posted 16 years ago2007-07-31 16:29:00 UTC
in Pimp My Shoes Post #230890
I have a friend who wears size 20s (US).
Posted 16 years ago2007-07-28 13:34:47 UTC
in Visit my city ! Post #230511
And Crystalman would be its queen.
Posted 16 years ago2007-07-28 13:32:24 UTC
in MUSICIANS - Your Gear Post #230508
Yeah, true. I'm one of the only trumpeters (or actively performing trumpeters, really) in the area, too, so there's very little competition for gigs and such.